Central Asia Wire
Independent Central Asia Monitor
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Mongolia’s fuel headquarters counts 79 tank wagons of petrol, about 2 days of sales, as Russia’s Moscow refinery stops processing and Novak orders risk scenariosDushanbe and the CNPC venture discuss the China gas pipeline again, 12 years after its Tajik section broke groundA 56-metre bridge and a $940,000 bill: a Kyrgyz committee clears the agreement that puts the Bedel crossing on the road to ChinaArmenia’s parties have until Friday to register for the 25 October local elections, the last scheduled vote before the 2027 parliament is chosen

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429 results
  1. Russia agrees to send Mongolia 25,000 more tonnes of petrol
    EnergyBrief11 Aug

    Russia agrees to send Mongolia 25,000 more tonnes of petrol

    Industry and mineral resources minister Damdinnyam Gongor met Russian energy ministry leadership and executives of Rosneft and Gazprom Neft in Moscow on Monday, and came away with a promise of 25,000 additional tonnes of AI-92 and 5,000 tonnes of jet fuel by 31 August. By his account, that ends the case for rationing.

  2. Central Asia agrees to meter the Syr Darya
    EconomyBrief10 Aug

    Central Asia agrees to meter the Syr Darya

    The Interstate Commission for Water Coordination approved the development of a plan for automated water accounting across the Syr Darya basin at its 94th session in Turkestan, the Chronicles of Turkmenistan reported on Monday, citing Report.az.

  3. Tashkent’s IT zone gets English law until 2100
    EconomyBrief10 Aug

    Tashkent’s IT zone gets English law until 2100

    Uzbekistan’s Senate approved the constitutional law on Enterprise Uzbekistan, an international digital-technologies centre in Tashkent with a special jurisdiction built on elements of English law and a lifespan written to the year 2100.

  4. Nine trips in a year: Mongolia’s fuel envoy starts in Moscow
    EnergyBrief10 Aug

    Nine trips in a year: Mongolia’s fuel envoy starts in Moscow

    The minister running Mongolia’s fuel crisis named his route on Sunday: Moscow first, then Kazakhstan, then Beijing. The itinerary carries its own message: whatever China agrees to supply, the system still runs through Russia.

  5. The Washington peace marks its first year in phone calls and freight
    PoliticsBrief10 Aug

    The Washington peace marks its first year in phone calls and freight

    Nikol Pashinyan spent the anniversary of the 8 August 2025 Washington summit on the phone, first with Ilham Aliyev, then with Donald Trump. The operative line came in the second call: construction of the TRIPP corridor is to start “in the near future”.

  6. Petronas finds commercial gas in Caspian Block 1
    EnergyBrief10 Aug

    Petronas finds commercial gas in Caspian Block 1

    More than 1.3 million cubic metres a day from a well 80 kilometres off Turkmenbashi.

  7. Turkmenistan halves the fuel a departing car may carry
    EconomyBrief10 Aug

    Turkmenistan halves the fuel a departing car may carry

    From today a vehicle leaving the country carries 150 duty-free litres, down from 300, and every litre above that costs half again as much.

  8. Mongolia asks PetroChina for 12,000 tonnes a month
    EnergyBrief10 Aug

    Mongolia asks PetroChina for 12,000 tonnes a month

    China agreed 6,000 tonnes of petrol for August. The prime minister wants that doubled and made standing, and he wants it cheaper.

  9. KazMunayGas calls the $80 billion Kashagan report unreliable
    EconomyBrief10 Aug

    KazMunayGas calls the $80 billion Kashagan report unreliable

    The company’s chairman read the story and does not confirm it. Kursiv, which carried the report on Friday, now traces it to Bloomberg.

  10. Wildberries starts insuring sellers' goods against drone strikes
    EconomyBrief7 Aug

    Wildberries starts insuring sellers' goods against drone strikes

    The marketplace has extended its seller insurance to damage or loss from terrorist acts, sabotage and drone attacks, covering delivery, pickup points and returns. Premiums have gone up with the cover, to between 1.96% and 5.6% of the value of the goods.

  11. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan clear 19 product groups of barriers from Monday
    EconomyBrief7 Aug

    Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan clear 19 product groups of barriers from Monday

    Tariff and non-tariff barriers come off 19 categories of trade between the two countries on 10 August, from cotton fibre and grain to construction materials and machinery. Two-way trade ran about $5 billion in 2025 and grew 38% in the first five months of this year.

  12. Exxon offers $80 billion for Kashagan, and asks Astana to settle first
    EnergyBrief7 Aug

    Exxon offers $80 billion for Kashagan, and asks Astana to settle first

    ExxonMobil has tied a proposed $80 billion expansion of the Kashagan field to settling Kazakhstan's claims against the consortium that runs it, Kursiv reported on Friday, citing sources close to the talks. Those claims come to about $150 billion.

  13. Two in five people in Mongolia's fuel queue are counted twice
    EnergyBrief7 Aug

    Two in five people in Mongolia's fuel queue are counted twice

    Mongolia's tax office says 40% of fuel customers are people who join one station's line and then another's. The ministry running the rationing is looking at doubling the purchase cap, possibly from Saturday.

  14. Mongolia will buy fuel wherever it can find it
    EnergyBrief7 Aug

    Mongolia will buy fuel wherever it can find it

    The industry minister says supply now outranks price in Mongolia’s fuel purchases. The zeroed customs duties have an end date, 1 February 2027, and the cabinet has cancelled its conferences and forums to pay for winter.

  15. Uzbekistan's prices fell in July, and its petrol rose 21.7% in a year
    EconomyBrief6 Aug

    Uzbekistan's prices fell in July, and its petrol rose 21.7% in a year

    Consumer prices in Uzbekistan fell 0.1% in July as the vegetable season arrived. Petrol rose 4.8% in the month and 21.7% over the year.

  16. Solar and wind take $376 million of the Kyrgyz-Russian list
    EconomyBrief6 Aug

    Solar and wind take $376 million of the Kyrgyz-Russian list

    Participants at the eighth Kyrgyz-Russian economic forum at Bosteri on Lake Issyk-Kul signed projects whose sector totals come to $545.1 million, with two renewable plants accounting for $376 million of that. The head of the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund put the value of all documents signed, trade contracts and inter-regional agreements included, above $800 million.

  17. Tajikistan triples its fuel imports from the neighbours
    EnergyBrief6 Aug

    Tajikistan triples its fuel imports from the neighbours

    Tajikistan took 34,000 tonnes of motor fuel from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in July, three times the June volume, while Russian petrol shipments to the country halved. The Moscow Times relayed the Reuters figures on Thursday, citing two industry sources.

  18. Recovered assets flow into village water for a second day
    EconomyBrief6 Aug

    Recovered assets flow into village water for a second day

    For the second morning in a row, Kazakhstan's government has taken money from its recovered-assets fund and pointed it at rural water: 2.7 billion tenge (about $5.7 million) on Thursday, after 5 billion tenge (about $10.6 million) on Wednesday.

  19. Three agreements and one grievance arrive at Issyk-Kul
    PoliticsBrief6 Aug

    Three agreements and one grievance arrive at Issyk-Kul

    The 47th Eurasian Intergovernmental Council opens in Cholpon-Ata on Thursday with three agreements prepared for signature and a warning from Yerevan already on the record.

  20. India calls an Uzbek trade pact a promising idea
    EconomyBrief5 Aug

    India calls an Uzbek trade pact a promising idea

    India’s commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal offered Tashkent the vocabulary of interest at a business forum in New Delhi: a free trade agreement is an idea the two governments could examine.